Star Trek: TOS: The Roddenberry Vault Season One (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES – THE RODDENBERRY VAULT ARRIVES DECEMBER 13
FROM CBS HOME ENTERTAINMENT AND PARAMOUNT HOME MEDIA DISTRIBUTION

Blu-ray™ Collection In Limited Edition Packaging To Include Twelve Classic Episodes, Three Exclusive Special Feature Documentaries Presenting Unseen Footage And New Interviews With Notable Star Trek Figures

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (September 1, 2016) – Fans can dive into the making of pop culture history when STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES – THE RODDENBERRY VAULT is released on Blu-ray December 13. In honor of the show’s 50th Anniversary, and just in time for holiday gift giving, the three-disc collector’s edition Blu-ray set from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution gives fans unprecedented access to never-before-seen footage from the production of Star Trek: The Original Series.

During the shooting of Star Trek, bits and pieces of episodic footage were left on the cutting room floor and later preserved in film canisters by The Roddenberry Estate. Recognizing the value of the footage, CBS painstakingly catalogued, transferred, analyzed, and pieced together these Vault materials, which include alternate takes, deleted scenes, omitted dialogue, outtakes, and original visual FX elements.

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES – THE RODDENBERRY VAULT includes twelve classic episodes chosen for their relevance to the Vault materials, and presented in 1080p High Definition with both DTS 7.1 Master Audio as well as newly restored original Mono. Eleven of these episodes contain isolated music tracks. Newly recorded audio commentaries appear on three fan-favorite episodes.

Each of the set’s three discs features documentaries that weave together the previously unseen Vault materials with all-new interviews by key creative and production personnel and famous fans. The three new documentaries exploring the “making of” the celebrated series and its enduring legacy are:

• Inside The Roddenberry Vault Rod Roddenberry introduces viewers to the discovery of his father’s long-lost Star Trek film reels. With footage from each of the 12 episodes, this three-part special feature offers a guided exploration into the historical significance of the newly discovered material through new interviews with dozens of Star Trek alumni and historians

• Star Trek: Revisiting A Classic offers a look back at the origins of the iconic series, including glimpses of life on the set with new interviews featuring guest stars, directors and production personnel.

• Strange New Worlds: Visualizing the Fantastic dives into the creation of spaceships, transporters, and the classic Star Trek visuals. The in-depth feature combines newly found original visual effects elements photography along with interviews with effects masters and Star Trek veterans such as Industrial Light & Magic founding member Richard Edlund, Doug Drexler, Dan Curry and Gary Hutzel.

Star Trek figures interviewed for these exclusive documentaries include William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk); writers Dorothy “D.C.” Fontana, David Gerrold and John D.F. Black; director Ralph Senensky; casting director Joseph D'Agosta; visual effects artist Richard Edlund; and actors from the 12 featured episodes such as Clint Howard (“The Corbomite Maneuver”), BarBara Luna (“Mirror, Mirror”), Leslie Parrish (“Who Mourns for Adonais?”), Charlie Brill (“The Trouble with Tribbles”), Michael Forest (“Who Mourns for Adonais”), Bobby Clark (“Arena”) and Elinor Donahue (“Metamorphosis”). Plus, the collection features new interviews with an impressive array of some of Star Trek’s biggest fans including The Big Bang Theory co-creator Bill Prady, The Simpsons writer/producer David Mirkin, Family Guy writer/producer David A. Goodman, NASA's Bobak Ferdowsi, Bill Nye (The Science Guy), and more.

Giving fans access to even more fragments of unseen footage and omitted dialogue from the groundbreaking series is a collection of Vault materials entitled Swept Up: Snippets from the Cutting Room Floor.

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES – THE RODDENBERRY VAULT will be initially available in limited edition deluxe packaging. The Blu-ray is Not Rated in the U.S. and rated G in Canada. The disc breakdown is as follows:

Disc One:
Episodes

• The Corbomite Maneuver
  
  • Isolated Music Track
• Arena
  
  • Isolated Music Track
• Space Seed
  
  • Isolated Music Track
• This Side of Paradise
  
  • Isolated Music Track
  • NEW! Audio Commentary by Dorothy “D.C.” Fontana and Gabrielle Stanton
• Special Features
  
  • NEW! Inside the Roddenberry Vault (Part 1)
  • NEW! Star Trek: Revisiting a Classic

Disc Two:
Episodes

• The Devil in the Dark
  
  • Isolated Music Track
• The City on the Edge of Forever
  
  • NEW! Audio Commentary by Roger Lay Jr., Scott Mantz and Mark A. Altman
• Operation – Annihilate!
  
  • Isolated Music Track
• Metamorphosis
  
  • Isolated Music Track
• Special Features
  
  • NEW! Inside the Roddenberry Vault (Part 2)
  • NEW! Strange New Worlds: Visualizing the Fantastic

Disc Three:
Episodes

• Who Mourns for Adonais?
  
  • Isolated Music Track
• Mirror, Mirror
  
  • Isolated Music Track
• The Trouble With Tribbles
  
  • Isolated Music Track
  • NEW! Audio Commentary by David Gerrold and David A. Goodman
• Return to Tomorrow
  
  • Isolated Music Track
• Special Features
  
  • NEW! Inside the Roddenberry Vault (Part 3)
  • NEW! Swept Up: Snippets from the Cutting Room Floor

In addition to being presented in both DTS 7.1 Master Audio and original English Mono, the episodes can also be played in Italian Mono, German Mono, and Castilian Mono audio. Both the episodes and special features include English SDH, Italian, German, Castilian, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subtitles.

About CBS Home Entertainment
CBS Home Entertainment manages the worldwide DVD and Blu-ray businesses for the CBS Corporation across all lines of content including current hits and classic series from the vast CBS library, as well as new releases from Showtime Video. CBS Home Entertainment products are released on the CBS DVD and CBS Blu-ray labels.

About Paramount Home Media Distribution
Paramount Home Media Distribution (PHMD) is part of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. PPC is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), home to premier media brands that create television programs, motion pictures, consumer products, and digital content for audiences in 180 countries and territories. The PHMD division oversees PPC’s home entertainment and transactional digital distribution activities worldwide. The division is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of home entertainment content on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and CBS and applicable licensing and servicing of certain DreamWorks Animation titles. PHMD additionally manages global licensing of studio content and transactional distribution across worldwide digital distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices and emerging technologies.

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES – THE RODDENBERRY VAULT
Street Date: December 13, 2016
Catalog #: 59181567000
Runtime: Approximately 10 hours, 5 minutes
Canadian Rating: G
U.S. Rating: Not Rated

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[DaveF]

I've never seen the complete original series, and have been growing interested in watching it properly. This caught my eye, until I saw the price: $77.

What does this bring that the previous two blu-ray releases didn't? (That I found in an initial Amazon search.)

I'm not in a big hurry, as I'm still working through the Twilight Zone marathon I recorded last year. I can also wait for ST:TOS Roddenberry to come down to a reasonable price in a year, if this is the must-get release.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I apologize.

This press release came across my desk several days ago. I ignored it because I had thought it was already announced. There is another Star Trek box set out there that includes other things.

So, after reading your reply, Dave, I went searching my email and came up with the press release. I put it in the top post.

That should answer your questions.

 

[Nelson Au]

The main draw of this release for long time fans is the unseen footage. From what I know of it from the reports from Comic Con and the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention, I think it's main audience will be hardcore fans who would be most interested in the lost footage. There's one report of a scene from Who Mourns For Adonais which I won't spoil here, that will finally be seen. It was sort of known, but I had never known it to actually be filmed. So that will be a highlight.

They added a lot sundries to make this release more palatable for the less interested. So the new interviews and commentaries for the episodes will be interesting to see. But they are not essential. The episodes that are in the set are presumably because they are the ones where the lost footage was found from. They are all good ones. I'm looking forward to the release. It should be interesting viewing.

One more note, from what has been said by another HTF member, don't expect the footage to look restored and pristine. I'm expecting the quality of junk. No better then the infamous Star Trek blooper reel.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Need a lot more details about the new stuff before this will pique my interest.

Having bought the LaLa Land TOS score box set, the isolated music tracks is a non-enticement.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I saw a panel at the NY Star Trek convention last night about this release so I can hopefully fill in a few details:

- The 12 episodes within were chosen because the bulk of the deleted scenes and outtakes came from those episodes.

- They wrestled with how to best present the footage but ultimately decided to incorporate it into newly produced documentaries rather than as standalone features. Deleted scenes were not reinserted into episodes in part because they don't have complete elements for all of the deleted scenes. (Some might be missing dialogue or camera angles.)

- They emphasized that they wanted the documentaries to be the centerpiece of the set and have some weight and heft to them. So this is more than just recycling old interviews and throwing in five minutes of new footage. They want people to feel that the double dip on the episodes is justified, which is also why...

-They recorded three new commentaries, and also provide isolated scores for eleven of the twelve included episodes.

-They said the episodes are from the same masters used for the existing Blu-rays.

-"Inside The Roddenberry Vault" is the main documentary - it's split into three parts running a combined total of 90 minutes.

-"Revising A Classic" is half an hour and primarily focused on the start of the original series.

-"Strange New Worlds" is half an hour and is primarily focused on special effects. It will include outtake effects shots in addition to interviews and show clips.

-"Swept Up" includes bits and pieces of deleted material that didn't fit in the documentaries.

-There's a deleted scene from Space Seed somewhere in one of the documentaries.

-The deleted footage all comes from 35mm dailies that Roddenberry took off the lot after they were no longer needed. (With questionable legality, the panelists laughed, since the footage technically was the property of the studio.) So it has any of the problems associated with older prints from that era - color fade and scratching being the biggest culprits. But the few short clips they showed were all very watchable, just not in the same league as the episodes themselves. They made a decision not to attempt cleanup because they felt the footage in its current condition gave more of a "you are there/fly on the wall" feeling to the footage.

So there's about three hours of new documentary material contained within, and the deleted material is only included as part of those documentaries. It comes out in December.

I'm much more enthusiastic about this release after hearing the panel talking about it.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

The price is a bit of a downer for me too. Hopefully the "limited edition packaging" means a cheaper version will come later.

 

[Jack P]

This one I am passing on. The deleted footage would be interesting but I would rather see it by myself raw and not be forced to watch a bunch of documentaries listening to a lot of too-familiar self-congratulatory comments. By contrast, when Universal gave us the deleted footage from "Battlestar Galactica" we were able to see it unfold raw and it was a much better experience. $77 for several documentaries and a handful of new commentary tracks is really a rip-off of a price from my standpoint.

 

[FanCollector]

I agree with you, Jack, that I would much rather have the raw footage; especially since the panel from San Diego referred to many hours of footage. I'm sure this stuff has been curated a little excessively. At the same time, the chance to see the footage at all feels very significant to me as a longtime fan, and I am very eager to see some of the deleted material. (I'm surprised we aren't getting Elaan of Troyius.) The deleted footage itself is clearly the primary lure for this release, but in terms of the additional features, I'm excited about Ms. Fontana's commentary on This Side of Paradise. She is pretty inarguably the most important surviving behind-the-camera contributor to the series, and that episode is a special one for her, so I am always happy to have the chance for new insights. (Also glad to have an on-camera interview with Ralph Senensky.)

 

[DaveF]

Twelve Classic Episodes

Ok, this is for hardcore collectors. A fraction of the first season for nearly $80. Not for me

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Ok, this is for hardcore collectors. A fraction of the first season for nearly $80. Not for me

For sure - the individual seasons are a better value and the quality of the presentations are excellent. I've seen Amazon bundle the series for $75 which I think is an amazing deal. I don't want to spend $80 for this. For $40 or so, I'd probably do it. $25 and I'd do it no questions asked. $80 is a lot to pay for three hours of documentaries since I've got everything else on there.

To clarify slightly, most of these twelve episodes are from season one, but there's a handful from season two in there as well. Nothing from season three.

 

[David Norman]

For sure - the individual seasons are a better value and the quality of the presentations are excellent. I've seen Amazon bundle the series for $75 which I think is an amazing deal. I don't want to spend $80 for this. For $40 or so, I'd probably do it. $25 and I'd do it no questions asked. $80 is a lot to pay for three hours of documentaries since I've got everything else on there.

To clarify slightly, most of these twelve episodes are from season one, but there's a handful from season two in there as well. Nothing from season three.

Just a possible solution
Dec 13th should be right near BN usual 40% off sale and there are normally some 20-25% coupons for that sale as well though the sale often is store only to pull traffic for Xmas shopping -- that's gets $35 pretty easily without even messing with member discount of their discounted GC Nov deals

 

[FanCollector]

To clarify slightly, most of these twelve episodes are from season one, but there's a handful from season two in there as well. Nothing from season three.

Right, seven and five from the first two seasons. I only mentioned Elaan of Troyius because there was a well-known scene filmed and cut from that one. I wonder if they found that one and decided that they would stick with more popular episodes, or if they just don't have it. (Operation: Annihilate is included, so I'm leaning toward the latter explanation.)

 

[Bryan^H]

I will get this. Huge Trek fan so outtakes, and deleted materiel are worth the price alone(although I do hope it drops quite a bit). Perfect addition for Star Trek's 50th anniversary.

 

[JamesSmith]

Does it have the scripts to two unproduced episodes of the animated series?

James

 

[Tino]

Will probably be $39.99 on street date. Definitely picking this up.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Does it have the scripts to two unproduced episodes of the animated series?

James

I believe they said it was limited to TOS material only.

 

[Nelson Au]

Bryan, thanks for linking that YouTube video trailer for the Vault set. Looks great! The clips look better then I thought they'd look. This is very cool, yes for the hardcore fans.

 

[Nelson Au]

Josh, I'd be curious if you'd have time to post on the Scott Atwell Star Trek thread about your convention experience this weekend.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Josh, I'd be curious if you'd have time to post on the Scott Atwell Star Trek thread about your convention experience this weekend.

Sure, be glad to. Will try to do so later tonight or tomorrow.